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LEARN Me This

NEW, IMPROVED—
The FCC’s new website
on the TV spectrum
incentive auctions is
everything one would expect from a Madison
Avenue firm selling soap. It has the clean
lines and floating graphics that welcome
the reader rather than overwhelm them with
pesky details. The site is purported to be
part of the commission’s LEARN program—
Learn Everything About Reverse-Auctions
Now—aimed at broadcasters. Here’s the title:
“A Groundbreaking Event for the Broadcast
Television, Mobile Wireless and Technology
Sectors of the U.S. Economy.”

Below, a bevy of regulators in tights and
puffy knee britches blows a trumpet fanfare.

To be fair-ish, this manifestation of the
Julius Genachowski FCC is noticeably more
restrained than past endeavors launched
with 500-word flourishes about “unleashing”
spectrum to save the world. That alone gives
rise to suspicion, when something presented
as informational begins with a litany of
uncited factoids and no acknowledgement of
evidence to the contrary.

I appreciate that the FCC is trying to
present the process as simply as possible.
However, simplicity is incongruent with
selling off an undetermined amount of TV
spectrum and repacking the frequency
band. An over-simplified presentation is a
whitewash of what the affected industries and
the public are in for. E.g., one of the questions
in the FAQ section poses the following: “Will I
lose my over-the-air broadcast television?”

The answer given is a definitive, “No.” The
commission cannot guarantee this, especially
if it secures the 120 MHz of spectrum it
seeks to turn over to wireless companies. It’s
misleading not to say that loss of service is a
distinct possibility.

The incentive auction process should
not be undertaken with the type of magical
thinking that defined 1980 management
styles and denied all possibility of undesired
outcomes. If the architects of this endeavor
truly believe it is necessary for the
nation, then they would not be averse to
acknowledging the negative possibilities.